Connecticut Will Need Days to Recover, Governor Says

An abandoned vehicle is covered in snow along an empty Interstate 91 southbound after a winter storm in East Windsor, Conn. on Saturday.
Associated Press

By

Sean Gardiner

Updated Feb. 9, 2013 4:28 p.m. ET

Connecticut authorities said it would take days to recover from a blizzard that hit the state with more than three feet of snow in some areas and crippled much of the Northeast. Authorities had earlier ordered all roads closed to nonemergency traffic but lifted the ban later Saturday.

"Right now our main priority is to clear roads," said Gov. Dannel Malloy. "This is going to go on for a number of days."

Scenes from around Connecticut show the aftermath of the "Nemo" blizzard. Some areas received more than three feet of snow. Photo: Associated Press.

The governor said at least one person—a woman hit by a car while operating a snowblower—had died in Connecticut during the storm. He said several hundred National Guard members would be called in to help hard-hit areas.

The Connecticut State Police received "well over" 1,600 calls for service in 24 hours, and about 39,000 households remained without power in the southeast section of the state, Gov. Malloy said. "There is a big concern about how cold it is going to be tonight," he said, adding that warming centers were being set up in areas without power.

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In New York, the most significant impact was felt on Long Island, where Suffolk County had over 30 inches of snow, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"Suffolk has sustained significant damage and significant hardship as a result of the storm," he said.

At the height of the storm, about 35,000 households lost power on Long Island, and about 10,000 households still had no electricity on Saturday morning, said Gil Quiniones of the New York Power Authority.

A Con Edison spokesman said that as of Saturday morning there were fewer than 300 New York City customers without power because of the storm, after the utility restored service to 3,000 customers who had lost it.

ENLARGE

A man pulls his son on a sled in Madison Square Park on Saturday.
EPA

Mr. Cuomo said plow crews and utility workers were being sent from New York City and all over the state to eastern Long Island to aid with storm recovery.

Two storm-related deaths were reported in the state: a 74-year-old man died after being struck by a car in Poughkeepsie, and a 23-year-old man died after he went off the edge of a roadway while plowing his driveway in Germantown police said.

On Long Island and in Connecticut, there was concern about motorists caught in snow drifts. On Friday evening, about 150 automobiles were stranded on the Long Island Expressway. In Connecticut, Mr. Malloy said there were roads made impassable because of car accidents.

"One of the biggest problems we are facing is stalled automobiles," Mr. Malloy said. "We are trying to dig them out and tow them away."

Mr. Cuomo said the hourslong traffic jam "was a complication for the clearing of the snow. The vehicles obviously become stranded and then the plows and the crews can't do their work." Portions of the LIE remained closed Saturday afternoon.

As the cleanup continued, Mr. Cuomo urged New Yorkers to stay indoors to allow snow-removal and power-restoration crews to more effectively do their jobs.

"I ask the people of this state to use consideration today," he said. "If you really don't need to leave the house for an urgent matter, don't leave the house."

All and all, New York fared far better in the storm than Connecticut and New England, Mr. Cuomo said. He said he would send plow and utility crews to aid in their storm recovery efforts.

Elsewhere in the New York City region, officials were breathing sighs of relief. The storm brought about a foot of snow to the city and could have been much worse, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

"I think it's fair to say that we were very lucky," Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference Saturday. "We certainly avoided the worst of it and our thoughts go out to the people in Connecticut and Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine."

Mr. Bloomberg said the city's Department of Sanitation, buoyed by private contractors, about 2,200 trucks in all, were out all night plowing and salting the roads and would continue to do so all day Saturday.

"Virtually all primary streets have been plowed and all city streets, we think, will be plowed by the end of the day," the mayor said.

Department of Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said of his workers' efforts during the storm, "It was difficult at times. There was a period during the night where we had a little bit of a whiteout but we got through that and I think we did a really good job as far as getting the streets plowed."

Mr. Doherty said private contractors were brought in for the first time to plow the tertiary roads—side streets—from the outset of the storm. He said that Mayor Bloomberg put that policy in effect after a storm in December 2010. After that storm, the city was criticized for its slow response in clearing side streets and at least one death was blamed on the inability of an ambulance to get through an unplowed street.

Mr. Bloomberg didn't report any storm-related deaths and said the subways and buses continued to run on schedule.

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